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Colorado wildfires: Crews prepare for worst, expect average season

By Jordan SteffenThe Denver Post

Posted:
05/10/2013 12:01:00 AM MDT

Updated:
05/10/2013 09:16:18 AM MDT

The good news: This year is unlikely to produce a fire season along the Front Range as severe as in 2012, when blazes such as the Lower North Fork fire left three dead and destroyed 23 homes. But other areas of Colorado could be looking at a long summer. (Craig F. Walker, Denver Post file)

Spring rains and snow have made it unlikely there will be a repeat of last year's wildfire season — during which six people died and about 650 homes were destroyed — but fire crews in Colorado are prepared for the worst.

Crews are stationed across the state, and fire management officers are looking for ways to mobilize equipment and firefighters to wildland blazes within hours instead of days.

Still, Coloradans must remain vigilant during what is predicted to be an average, and yet challenging, fire season in most areas of the state, Gov. John Hickenlooper said Thursday morning during his annual fire briefing.

"It's important to recognize that it's not fighting fires, but preparing to fight fires," he said. "Coupled with that preparedness is prevention."

Gov. John Hickenlooper, seen through the window of a helicopter used to drop water on wildfires, said at Centennial Airport on Thursday that he hopes preparations will result in better results for the upcoming fire season in Colorado. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)

Under the new structure, and using lessons from multiple massive, devastating wildfires last year, state fire management officers spent the fall and winter months working with local responders to develop plans to mobilize and organize emergency resources faster, said Paul Cooke, director of the Division of Fire Prevention and Control at the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

As part of this year's plan, some of the state's 32 wildland fire engines will be stationed across the state. Each engine will be staffed with a state firefighter and two local firefighters who will learn the terrain and be ready to share information with federal and itinerant teams called in if a big fire breaks out. The idea is that crews will be better informed about the conditions in the area and how to communicate with multiple agencies.

"We think we are better prepared," Cooke said. "When it comes time to work together, they'll trust each other."

Hickenlooper and Cooke said that efforts are ongoing to create better integration between local, state and federal officials for assessing what resources are available when wildfires grow out of control.

They are trying to develop a single database and communication system that allows decisions about how fires will be fought to be made "in hours and not days," Hickenlooper said during the briefing at Centennial Airport. He was joined by fire managers from federal, state and local agencies.

State officials will continue working to "fill the gap" between federal and state air support this summer, Cooke said. Currently, the U.S. Forest Service has nine helicopters available in Colorado.

With wide bipartisan support in the legislature this session, lawmakers passed a bill allowing the state to form its own air fleet to fight fires, although for the next year the effort is likely to remain in a holding pattern since it lacks funding.

Senate Bill 245 would create the Colorado Firefighting Air Corps under the Division of Fire Prevention and Control in the state's Department of Public Safety. But the bill was amended to make the funding discretionary instead of mandatory.

Lawmakers met with Hickenlooper in April, urging the governor to help find money for the leased fleet.

On Thursday afternoon, during a briefing with Capitol reporters, Hickenlooper said he's "trying to figure out where the money is."

"This is a resource that doesn't affect everybody in the state," Hickenlooper said. "Finding money for more narrow things is oftentimes harder."

But the keystone in preparing for this year's wildfire season — clearing fuels from around homes, developing evacuation plans, using fire-resistant building materials — rests on the shoulders of property and homeowners, Hickenlooper said earlier in the day.

"Every Coloradan has a role to play in fire preparedness and prevention," he said. "You get lulled into a sense of security when you have a couple of weeks of rain. But we have to be vigilant."

Despite heavy spring snows and rains in north and central Colorado, drier conditions are expected to develop statewide later this month.

Drought conditions still exist in southern Colorado, where above-average fire conditions are expected to develop later this month and last through mid-July.

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